Prolonged and hazardous use of caffeine can be termed as caffeine addiction. It can impact your relationship with others and harm your health. Some people may face unfavourable side effects from caffeine consumption or have difficulties managing without caffeine.
What is Caffeine Addiction?
Caffeine is a widely used substance across the world. Coffee and soda are the most common caffeine sources in the United States, while tea is a widely consumed caffeine source in Africa and Asia. Caffeine can also be found in a wide range of everyday foods like chocolate.
Also read: Effects Of Coffee On Renal Health
Coffee becomes an issue when it negatively impacts your life but you are unable to quit drinking it. Or you have it despite being aware that doing so could be harmful to your health or hurt your mind or body.
Although the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)," a clinical manual used to categorise and diagnose mental health concerns, does not formally recognise caffeine addiction as a condition, it does address a few caffeine-related issues, such as intoxication and withdrawal.
How Coffee Can Be Harmful to Your Health
There are many ways that caffeine affects the body that could be bad for your health. Caffeine has been linked to heightened blood pressure and altered cardiac rhythms.
The possibility that caffeine may raise your risk of osteoporosis is another matter of debate. According to one study, this is true for menopausal women who consume a lot of coffee.
According to a study, if caffeine is drunk within six hours of bedtime, it can also harm your health by interfering with your sleep.
Lack of sleep makes it more difficult to work well during the day. Sleep is crucial for overall health and even immunological function because it is the time when your body repairs.
Also read: 3 Ways Coffee Can Harm Your Oral Health
Symptoms That Confirm Caffeine Addiction
Since caffeine is a stimulant, consuming too much of it can result in a number of symptoms linked to brain and nervous system activation.
Sings are as follows:
- Dizziness
- Being unsteady
- Headache
- High blood pressure
- Nervousness
- Heart palpitations or other irregular heartbeats
- Sleep problems
This sort of addiction can even overlap with work addiction, as some people exploit the stimulating effects of this substance to improve their mental and/or physical performance at work.
Caffeine's euphoric benefits, like any addiction, can occasionally disguise other concerns. Caffeine addiction may be caused by a lack of energy and melancholy. Caffeine may be used to compensate for sleep disturbances.
Symptoms Of Caffeine Withdrawal
The most common symptom experienced by caffeine withdrawal patients are headaches, which can range from mild to severe. Other symptoms related to attempting to reduce your caffeine consumption or missing your daily "dose" are:
- Feeling tired or sleepy
- Decreased mental alertness
- Slow reaction time
- Deterioration in memory power
Caffeine addiction is so frequent that we almost never realise it. However, if you can minimise or eliminate coffee to reduce the negative affects it has on you, you may find it easier to reconnect with your natural energy and relax after the sun goes down.
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